IT TAKES FAITH (part ten)
Hebrews 11:30-The fall of Jericho
INTRODUCTION: Last week I talked about what led up to the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. By faith Moses approached Pharaoh to tell him to let his people go and by faith he and the Israelites passed through the Red Sea on dry ground. And we saw in Sunday school that although the Israelites had faith it wasn't perfect as shortly thereafter they were grumbling and complaining. Today we fast forward 40 years to Moses' successor, Joshua and the next generation of Israelites as they travel into the land of Promise-Canaan.
1) "You want us to do what?"
Jericho was the first major city standing in the way of the Israelites establishing themselves in the land of Canaan. The 40 year desert wanderings were over, Moses had passed away, Joshua had taken over and now it was time to march into the Promised Land.
But they would have to overtake the current inhabitants. So Joshua sent out some spies to assess the situation. They ran into a woman named Rahab (more on her next week). She revealed to the spies that the people of Jericho had heard about God parting the Red Sea and what happened to the Egyptians and the Israelites' success in their other conquests and they were afraid.
Joshua 6:1-5, "Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark.
On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”
Here we see God commanding Joshua to do something very odd. They're not going to proceed with a typical militaristic strategy, they're not getting ready to storm the gates; they're being asked to simply march. March around the city for a week and blow their horns; that's it.
Imagine what reaction you would have if this was the battle strategy you were given to conquer a city. I'd be like, "Now, let me see if I got this straight. No siege, no sneak attack, no charging in, no storming in and busting through, just march around and blow some horns and the walls are going to collapse? Okay, yeah; sounds reasonable enough."
I can imagine Joshua being a little apprehensive to communicate this to his leaders to relay to the troops. "These guys are going to think I've lost it. They might even remove me from my command; saying I'm putting everyone's lives at risk and I'm not fit to lead anymore."
But Joshua did go forward with the plan and everyone got behind him.
2) Obeying the odd command.
Joshua 6:6-10, "So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” And he ordered the people, “Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD.”
When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD'S covenant followed them. The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark.
All this time the trumpets were sounding. But Joshua had commanded the people, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!”
Joshua trusted God that this unconventional method would work. It took faith for Joshua to accept and move forward with this command and it took faith for the troops to get in line with their leader and move forward with the seemingly preposterous plan.
It's interesting that Joshua emphasizes for the people to not make any war cry, raise their voices or even say a word before it was time to. They had to resist doing what they would've naturally been inclined to do in this situation. They had to refrain from doing what made sense to do; the action they would've felt compelled to take in a battle situation.
When our faith is tested, we will need to resist doing what we would normally, instinctively do. Faith challenges us to do things in an unconventional and unpredictable way. Faith challenges us to believe things will happen in unconventional ways (like the walls collapsing). This challenges us to believe that God will do it instead of us trying to make something happen ourselves.
And in this case it would've seemed foolish to conduct themselves this way. Think of what the army of Jericho was thinking as they became aware of what the Israelites were doing. Think of what the Israelites were thinking as they figured they would be seen marching around the city; in a vulnerable position.
We might find ourselves doing things for Christ that others would find foolish. I shared 1st Cor. 1:18 last week during the Lord's Supper. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Some people thought Paul was foolish, even insane, for the things he was saying and doing.
People would think it was foolish to bless those who curse you. It sounds foolish to tell the store clerk she gave back too much change. It sounds foolish to not take revenge or to overlook an offense. It's foolish to put Christ first and surrender your will for his. The things of Christ are foolish to those who don't know him. Are we willing to be seen as a fool for Christ like Paul was?
3) Success!
Joshua 6:16-20, "The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.
But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury.”
When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city." Shout! For the Lord has given you the city." God wanted Joshua and the Israelites to know that it wasn't by their might or expertise that the city would be conquered but by the Lord. It wasn't their marching or horn blowing that toppled the walls but it was their faith, seen in their willingness to obey what God commanded, that brought about the collapse.
Heb. 11:30, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days."
They had to have faith and they had to be patient and persistent. They needed to continue this odd strategy for a full seven days. Up until the end there was probably the temptation to conclude that this was ridiculous and I'm not going to continue this way. Plenty of time to become convinced that this would not end well. But they didn't give up; they persevered through whatever doubt there was. Joshua trusted what God had said and so did his troops. And in the end there was victory. However, they had to do it God's way and remember who it was all for.
"The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord". Joshua devotes the city and all the silver, gold, bronze and iron to the Lord. He fought against any temptation to take anything for himself. He knew that victory would come only by doing it God's way. Joshua knew that if they did everything according to God's command they would be successful but if they hadn't then I'm sure Jericho would've been victorious.
That's why Joshua emphasized things along the way: "Don't say a word until I tell you it's time", "when you get into the city don't take any of the devoted things so that you will not bring destruction on you or the nation". Joshua knew the importance of following the Lord's instructions.
Three months after the Israelites left Egypt they came to the Desert of Sinai. Then they came to Mount Sinai, the mountain where God met with Moses. This was God's instruction regarding approaching the holy mountain.
Exodus 19:12-13, "Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain."
Only when the ram's horn sounded a long blast were they allowed to go up to the mountain. Sound familiar? It's just like what's happening here with Joshua and the troops. They were to march around the city and not shout or advance on the city until the long blast from the ram's horn.
God expected his instructions to be followed and if someone felt like they could deviate from them there were consequences. Success happens only when we do it God's way. This takes humility, patience, perseverance; this takes faith.
4) We need to be on God's side.
Before Joshua received his marching orders he had an interesting encounter where he was introduced to the commander of the Lord's army.
Joshua 5:13-15, "Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” The commander of the LORD'S army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so."
"Take off your sandals." It's interesting that he gives the same command that God gave Moses at the burning bush. This helps to support Joshua as the right successor to Moses. "Whose side are you on?" Joshua asked. "Neither" came the reply. The commander of the Lord's army is on God's side and will do whatever God commands. God is always about his agenda more so than being on someone's side.
Abraham Lincoln knew the importance of being on God's side. When he was asked if he believed that God was on the union's side he responded with, "Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
This is what God is communicating to Joshua and the Israelites and to us too. We shouldn't be concerned with whether or not God is on our side. All we need to be focused on is being on his.
Israel may have been God's 'chosen' people but it got to where they became presumptuous and they felt entitled to special privileges regardless of how they conducted themselves. And God had to show them how wrong that thinking was. He told them many times in one form or another, "If you do what is right you will be blessed but if you don't you will suffer".
In Jesus' day they prided themselves on being 'descendants of Abraham' but Jesus told them in John 8 that they were lost. When John the Baptist came he addressed the religious leaders and called them to repentance. He basically said to them, "Don't think you can say, 'we have Abraham as our father' as if that puts God at your mercy, because God can use these stones to raise up children of Abraham."
Such as it is with us. We might think that because we've been born again God is on our side and that affords us certain "allowances" and we can get away with things. Let us not be deceived. God is merciful and gracious but it's not wise to presume upon the kindnesses of God. There should be the fear of God that takes his commands seriously.
We need to follow them as he has written them instead of what we might do sometimes and that's follow them as we've re-written them. God said do not lie but I say that doesn't include little white lies. It's so easy for us to want to make up our own exceptions to the rules and convince ourselves that God's okay with it.
God gave Joshua specific instructions and Joshua knew it was important to emphasize the need to follow them precisely as they were given if they were going to be successful. The same goes for us-if we alter God's commands to suite our desires or make up our own rules we'll find out the hard way that God won't tolerate that.
God expects us to respect his word enough to not deviate from it. We may not always understand why he asks us to do things a certain way but, as Lincoln remarked, he is always right. I'm sure it wouldn't have made sense to Lincoln to march around the city instead of storming and attacking it but like Joshua before him, he would've concluded that God is always right so I'd better do it his way.
When God's commands seem odd, confusing or absurd we better not ignore them or alter them because we will suffer the consequences. Doing it God's way brings success; it breaks down walls. What are the walls that we want to see collapse? Perhaps it's not happening because there's something we're doing or not doing that's preventing it from happening.
Maybe we are doing the right things but we're getting impatient; we want to stop marching around and invade on our own terms. Have you ever gotten impatient with God's process and decided to break ranks and try to take down the wall your way, in your time? How did that work out? Chances are when you're done the wall is still standing but you're not.
Success doesn't come by thinking God is on our side; it comes by being on his side. Victory doesn't happen because God is in our camp; it happens because we're in his. The victories don't come by doing it our way. They don't happen by our own wisdom or power; only God's. As the Lord told Zerubbabel in Zechariah 4:6, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty."
The walls of Jericho fell not because of Israel's ability but because of God's. The Red Sea parted not because of Moses' power but because of God's. The Egyptians were defeated not by Israel's skill but because of God's. However, although it wasn't by the power of Moses or Joshua or Israel; it was by their faith. If they had not acted in faith then the Sea wouldn't have parted, the walls wouldn't have collapsed and the battles would not have been won.
It takes faith in God's power in order to see amazing things happen. God can do what he wants regardless of our faith but most of the time he won't move if the faith isn't there. When Jesus was in Nazareth their lack of faith caused them to miss out. Matthew 13:58, "And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith."
It takes faith to be on God's side and do things his way.
